Lively Birds Carved Out of Natural Feathers

Washington-based artist Chris Maynard is a feather fanatic! He uses feathers as his medium because he says, “They are an ultimate achievement of nature and a pinnacle of wonder.” His goal is to feature the natural patterns, colors, and shapes of a bird’s feathers in a new and different light compared to how it originally grew and functioned on the bird’s body.

WIth this in mind, Maynard creates all kinds of interesting shadowbox designs that mimic the natural form of a bird’s feathers. In his work, layers of overlapping feathers, single isolated feathers, and repetitive patterns are the main focus. From that central point, the artist carves intricate feather birds that grow and emerge, and flap their wings as they fly away.

As unique as every bird, each one of Maynard’s pieces is an original that cannot be duplicated. Maynard says creation of these pieces requires various design and crafting techniques and that his favorite tools to use are his fine eye surgery forceps, scalpels, and magnifiers. He spends a lot of time identifying the proper feathers to use to complete his vision and all of the shadowbox framings incorporate only legally acquired materials.

As some of you may have noticed already, we’ve made some big changes here at My Modern Met. Over the past few years, we realized that we were long overdue for a redesign. As the stars finally started to align, we began the process about a year ago and it’s our pleasure to share it with you today. Our first major objective was switching platforms.